By Benedict Nwachukwu, Abuja
As the states football associations gear up their preparations to conduct elections into the various positions on their boards, Nasarawa State FA is engulfed in a fight to finish with the other aspirants vowing to stop the incumbent chairman Mohammed Alkali from effecting his self succeeding plot.
The crises about to erupt was fanned by the purported disqualification of former Vice Chairman of the state FA Haliru Ibrahim Zee and eight other aspirants by the electoral committee acting on the instructions from the Alkali led board.
Confirming this ugly incidence capable of dragging the state’s football to the muds, Ibrahim said he and eight other aspirants had purchased their forms in accordance to the guidelines and made all necessary payments but were surprised to hear that they have been disqualified and the reason for which was not disclosed.
He claimed that the news of their disqualification has remained a rumour to him since no letter to that effect was communicated to them but added that because of Alkali’s desperation he petitioned the NFF and every other body responsible to prevent the crises from happening.
The two time Vice Chairman of the state FA who recently retired from the state Civil service as a Director told TAN in an interview in Abuja that he contested for the position of Chairman of the State FA three times but lost narrowly with eight votes to ten twice in 2007, 2011 but in 2015 he tied nine votes at the first ballot but lost eight to ten votes in a runoff to Mohammed Alkali the incumbent chairman.
According to him, “I am very shocked by the purported disqualification of my candidature. I have been a team player and family member of football administration in my state in particular and the entire country. For over 15 years I have been a match commissioner. I have served my state effectively and our people are clamouring for me. Maybe that is why he is afraid. “
Ibrahim argued that NFF is in a position to nip the crises on the bud before it escalates and destroy the game in the state and by extension the country.
He maintained that the proximity of the state to the Federal Capital Territory should spur the country’s football governing body to wade into the matter to stop it from snowballing into a cancer that can do nobody any good insisting that the right thing must be done for peace to reign.
“I do not see football politics as do or die that is why when I lost the past elections onto the board of Nasarawa State FA I was not deterred. I continue to contribute my quota which is why my people want me to serve them. But unfortunately, the incumbent chairman is afraid and that is why he wants to circumvent the guidelines and return himself. “
Ibrahim, an accountant by profession with law background categorically stated that he will not fold his hands and watch the Alkali led board destroy football in Nasarawa State claiming that the era of Alkali is over regardless of his antics.
The NFF has instructed the various states FAs to conduct elections beginning from June after the initial postponement.
However, our investigations revealed that the Alkali led board has refused to create space for a level playing ground for all aspirants.
Your comment..waw level plating ground for peaceful development.
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